Facts And Figures: Kurdistan Workers Party

March 21, 2013 19:50 GMT

Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Norouz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on March 21, 2013.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was founded in 1978 as a hybrid movement drawing on revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism, with the aim of uniting the Kurdish people. As part of its efforts, the PKK took on the Turkish government by means of protests and sabotage.

Fighting

Beginning in 1984, the PKK entered into an armed struggle of independence against Turkey, with much of the fighting based in southeastern Turkey and Anatolia. The number of deaths attributed to the fighting stands at about 40,000, including Turkish forces, PKK fighters, and civilians. Large-scale fighting subsided after PKK leader and co-founder Abdullah Ocalan's arrest in 1999.

Ocalan's Imprisonment

Ocalan was arrested in 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya, and flown to Turkey after unsuccessfully seeking asylum in several European and African countries. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted in 2002 when Turkey abolished the death penalty. He is currently incarcerated in the island prison of Imrali.

Cease-Fire

On March 21, 2013, on the occasion of Nouruz, Ocalan announced a cease-fire with Turkey in a message read out by a Kurdish lawmaker. He called on Kurdish fighters to halt their activities and to withdraw from Turkey.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by: the United Nations, NATO, United States, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Iraq, Iran, France, Germany, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Moldova, New Zealand, Philippines, Syria, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Political Ties

Political parties that support separatism are banned in Turkey. However, the Peace and Democracy Party (Turkish: Barıs ve Demokrasi Partisi -- BDP) is widely seen as the main political party representing Kurds in Turkey. The BDP holds 36 of 550 seats in Turkey's parliament and 97 seats (out of 2,919) in local municipalities. It was formed in 2009 after its predecessor, the Democratic Society Party, was disbanded by Turkish authorities for its ties to the PKK and other Kurdish separatist movements.

Kurdish Population

Kurds account for about 14 million of Turkey's population of 80 million, although some Kurdish groups put the number at 20 million-25 million. Worldwide there are an estimated 26 million-36 million Kurds, with many living in the Middle East states of Iran (6 million-8 million), Iraq (6 million-6.5 million) and Syria (1.5 million-2.2 million).